I decided to go with a circular hole pattern (staggered). The exact patter was obtained from a cooking griddle which consisted of a series of staggered 7/16. I turned a piece of aluminum to 7/16 and drilled a hole through the center to accept a pin I liberated from a spring punch. I then laid out the template over .017 sheet Stainless Steel and made a series of dimples. I then used a roper whitney punch to make the holes. I enlarged with a step drill and polished. The second one should go much quicker.
